Juan Manuel Santos Wins Nobel Peace Prize After Voters Reject Deal

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos makes the victory/peace sign with son Martin Santos (L), wife Maria Clemencia Rodriguez (2nd R) and daughter Maria Antonia Santos (R) after voting in the referendum on a peace accord to end the 52-year-old guerrilla war between the FARC and the state on Oct. 2, 2016 in Bogota, Colombia. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“The referendum was not a vote for or against peace,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, claiming that the peace process was far from dead. “What the ‘No’ side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement.”

Colombian voters rejected the deal on Sunday, and it was decided by a very narrow margin, according to The Canadian Press. The deal would have allowed rebels, who turned over their weapons and confessed to crimes, to be spared from undergoing jail time and receive 10 seats in congress through 2026.

"I receive this with great emotion, and this is something that will forever be important for my country and for the people who have suffered with the war. … I receive this award in their name; the Colombian people who have suffered so much with this war," Santos said, according to Nobelprize.org.

The Nobel Committee said, according to The Daily Mail, that the award should be seen “as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to call the parties who have contributed to the peace process.”

Santos and his counterpart and leader of the rebel group FARC, Rodrigo London, who the committee failed to acknowledge, signed the peace deal last month before it was voted against just six days later, Daily Mail noted.

In Bogota, some 20 activists protested in front of Colombia’s congress, demanding that the peace deal not be abandoned, shouting “Peace deal now!” and “Colombia wants peace!”

“This is a big help, but we’re not leaving until there’s peace,” said a 31-year-old artist, Juliana Bohorquez, according to The Canadian Press.

Santos has assured people that he plans to revive the peace plan, despite it being rejected.